
We’re proud to serve as the Westside anchor for the 2025 Los Angeles Design Festival: Design Futurism, happening June 26–29 citywide—and we’re going all in. For four days, our campus transforms into a hub of bold ideas and hands-on experiences:
- A throwback-meets-tomorrow Revenge of Analog block party
- A curated design book pop-up inside Arcana
- Behind-the-scenes studio tours
- A future-facing Regenerative Design Hub
- The vibrant Sunshine Makers Market
- Talks from architects, designers & futurists reimagining what’s next
- A special Art21 film screening exploring creativity and the unknown
Helms Design District is where the future of design comes alive.
Scroll down to find out about all the events at Helms!
Free and open to the public. Please RSVP just to let us know you’re coming.
Free parking is available in all Helms surface lots. For added convenience, valet parking is also available inside our Automated Parking Structure. This will be a vibrant and busy weekend full of design celebrations, so please plan ahead and allow extra time for parking. See you there!
ABOUT LADF 2025
When envisioning the future, design is inherently a part of our collective imagination: a tool for reimagining how we connect, create, and challenge existing narratives. This concept expands beyond the exploration of technological spectacle. Design Futurism is a solution-oriented exploration of human potential. In 2025, LADF invites you to explore Design Futurism through various lenses of our collective human experiences.
Design informs every aspect of our present lives, guiding us towards and through thoughtful experiences. The impact of forward-thinking design is tangible in the smallest portions of our everyday practices through global experiences and products.
We’re gathering the misfits, the dreamers, and the radical thinkers who recognize design as a key to unlock the possibilities of an intentional future. Design Futurism is more than a concept; it’s a multidisciplinary call to action to explore connections between past, present and the creation of an optimistic future. We’re inviting the LA community to, to show up curious, to experiment, and to make connections between what is and what could be.
Join us to create a future where creativity meets purpose, and design is the key to unlocking new possibilities.
See below for a full schedule of events and activities at Helms.
To explore the rest of the Fest, visit the main site.
LADESIGNFESTIVAL.ORGTHURSDAY, JUNE 26
Junktion: Where Creativity Meets Sustainability
Helms Design Center | 4:00 – 6:00 pm | 8745 Washington Blvd.
L.A. GOAL, Inside Out Productions, and the Helms Design District proudly present Junktion—an integrated art show that reimagines waste as wonder. Join us for a bold celebration of innovation, inclusion, and the transformative power of art.
This isn’t your typical gallery. Junktion spotlights boundary-pushing works by artists of all abilities, ages, and backgrounds—proving that great design is not just sustainable, but radically inclusive. Come see what happens when nothing goes to waste—and everything has a story.
Calling all Designers! The Financial, Social & Environmental Benefits of U.S. Furniture Manufacturing
Room & Board Showroom | 5:00 – 6:00 pm | 3231 Helms Ave.
Explore why American-made furniture matters. This one-hour CEU session at Room & Board dives into the history of domestic vs. imported manufacturing, unpacking the financial perks, community impact, and environmental advantages of sourcing locally. Learn how choosing U.S.-made furniture supports people, the planet, and great design.
What You’ll Learn:
• The story behind “Made in America”
• Financial benefits of domestic production
• Social impact on makers and communities
• Sustainability and local material sourcing
FRIDAY, JUNE 27

Studio Tour: Hidden Design at Helms
Helms Walk | 3:00 – 4:30 pm
Put on your walking shoes and get ready to explore where design lives.
Join us for a guided walking tour through the Helms Design District—an insider look at the creative spaces, studios, and showrooms shaping the future of design, often hiding in plain sight.
We’ll kick things off at 3 pm sharp in front of the Helms fountain (across from Father’s Office), then head out to discover:
- Behind-the-scenes access to the Helms Design Center
- Showroom visits at Maharam and Jules Seltzer Associates
- A peek inside Studio II, home to a collective of artists in the historic Helms Bakery building
- A stop at Lisa Gimmy Landscape Architecture, where ecology meets design
- And to top it off, a tour of our automated parking structure—a vending machine for cars and a glimpse into urban innovation
Expect a few surprise historic stops along the way—we’re not giving everything away.
Limited to 20 guests. RSVP required.

Joshua Dawson: Worldbuilding and the Architecture of What-if
Helms Design Center | 4:00 – 4:45 pm | 8745 Washington Blvd.
Josh Dawson will discuss how speculative worldbuilding can critique real-world systems while offering tools to reshape them. Drawing from work in architecture, computational design, and filmmaking, he will present a journey through narrative projects like Caustico, Loa’s Promise, Spa Sybarite, and the forthcoming Bradbaori. From collaborating with policymakers on climate resilience at Arcadis to crafting dystopian futures for Netflix, this lecture reveals how data, design, and storytelling converge to imagine—and inform—alternative futures.

Helms Block Party – Revenge of Analog: A Future Built by Hand
Helms Walk | 6:30 – 8:30 pm | Open-Air, All Ages
Step away from the screen and into a night of joyful resistance. Revenge of Analog is our celebration of the tangible, the tactile, and the timeless during LA Design Festival. Come get your hands dirty, dance to the sounds of the Ethan Emerson Band, get a Haiku poem written on typewriters, make your own zine, step inside the Boho Booth for a photo, get your Oracle card reading, indulge in a Father’s Office mocktail, visit our fabulous Culver City Arts District popups and connect with creators reviving slow, intentional ways of making.
We’re reclaiming the physical, remixing the past, and reminding ourselves that the future isn’t just digital—it’s handmade.
Design the future with your fingers, not just your thumbs.

FORT LA Film Screening – Rebel Architects: From Venice to the World Stage
Helms Design Center | 6:30 pm | 8745 Washington Blvd.
In 1980, on a quiet stretch of Venice Beach, seven young architects gathered for what would become an iconic photograph. At the time, they were bold innovators, shaping a new architectural language rooted in Los Angeles but destined for global impact. This single image captured the energy of a moment—a group of creators poised to redefine their craft.
Forty-five years later, four members of that group – Thom Mayne, Eric Owen Moss, Craig Hodgetts and Frederick Fisher – reunite to reflect on that image, their groundbreaking careers, and the city they helped transform.
During LA Design Festival, Helms Design District will host a special screening of Rebel Architects, Episode 1: Capturing a Moment in LA Architecture, produced by FORT: LA. The screening will be accompanied by a conversation with Rebel Architects host Frances Anderton, and voices from the next generation of architects in Venice. Find out if the freewheeling creativity of the 1970s and ’80s flourishes today!
SATURDAY, JUNE 28
Sunshine Makers Market
Helms Walk | 11:00 am – 4:00 pm
Soak up the creativity. The Sunshine Makers Market is where local artisans, designers, and creatives gather to share future-forward work made by hand, heart, and intention. This isn’t just a market; it’s a design ecosystem. Explore objects that challenge fast consumerism, uplift local economies, and tell powerful stories through craft. Meet the makers shaping tomorrow’s materials and methods. Designed with purpose. Made for the future.
Kids Summer Seaside Terrariums with Creatiive Natiive Kiids at Helms
Helms Avenue and Room & Board Showroom | 11:00 am – 3:30 pm
Join us for our newest installment of #MakersClasses at Helms Design District with our exciting new collaboration with Olivia Brydon and Creatiive Natiive Kiids — she’ll be setting up at our market on June 28th with tables full of fun supplies for all the kiddos to make Seaside Terrariums and/or custom charm bracelets or key chains. It’s an afternoon to dive into creativity to be sure!
Seaside Terrariuma: Dive into your creativity and create your own undersea utopia! Decorate your ocean lair with seashell beads and “fin-tastic” stickers! Join us in creating the perfect summer momento.
Charm Bar: Head on over to our Charm Bar where you can customize your own bracelets necklaces, keychains and MORE! We can’t wait to be Charmed by all your wonderful jewelry!
Note this is a ticketed event. Click below for info.

Regenerative Design Hub: Design that doesn’t just sustain—it heals
Washington Corridor | 11:00 am – 4:00 pm | 8723 Washington Blvd.
Step into the Regenerative Design Hub, a hands-on, multi-sensory experience that reimagines the systems powering architecture, fashion, technology, education, and more—through the lens of regeneration. The Hub brings together natural materials, living systems, and place-based design practices to explore how we can move from extraction to reciprocity.
Get up close with mycelium, soil, adobe, seed banks, reclaimed wood, regional fibers, and climate-conscious innovation—all spotlighting design that gives back more than it takes. Plus, drop in to our Natural Dye Lab to create a take-home painting with color made from local plants and kitchen waste.
Featuring:
• Adobeisnotsoftware
• Altadena Seed Library
• Angel City Lumber
• Great Park Coalition
• Mycelium Matters
• Irocoh
• Southern California Fibershed
• And More!
Tactile. Radical. Rooted in place. This is design for a living future.

Visualizing Design Futurism: International poster exhibition presented by Poster Territory
Washington Corridor | 11:00 am – 4:00 pm | 8723 Washington Blvd.
Design Futurism isn’t just a concept—it’s a call to imagine, create, and shape the future through the power of design. In collaboration with Olga Severina of Poster Territory, this dynamic exhibition showcases a diverse international collection of posters from 45+ countries that visually explore the possibilities, challenges, and hopes embedded in the future of design. Each poster is a unique artistic response to the question: How can design guide us toward a more intentional, regenerative, and human-centered future?
As you explore these bold visuals, consider how design shapes the world around us—inviting us to rethink our relationship with technology, nature, community, and creativity itself. This installation lives inside the Regenerative Design Hub, amplifying ideas of renewal, resilience, and radical imagination.
Step in. Look closer. Let these images spark your own vision for what’s possible.
L.A. Forever: What does it take to build a forever city?
Helms Design Center | 11:00 am – 5:00 pm | 8745 Washington Blvd.
Big ideas. Short formats. Bold futures.
“LA Forever” is a day of powerful ideas, bold design strategies, and visionary voices reimagining how Los Angeles can evolve with resilience, equity, and imagination. Through community-driven design, rapid rehousing, cultural preservation, and future-facing architecture, we ask: How do we rebuild—and reimagine—Los Angeles for the long term?
From lightning-style talks to hands-on activations, installations, and a closing conversation with Barbara Bouza, this event is for anyone who believes design is essential to LA’s future. Come for the ideas. Stay for the spark.
Schedule:
11:00 am – Opening Reception | Small Lots, Big Impacts Exhibition | Art Installation by Jeff Morrical
11:30 pm – Workshop & Community Engagement: “Re/Building Communities Through Cultural (Co)Creativity and (Co)LABoration (after the wildfires)”, led by DesignCyphers with Dawn Hicks: What does rebuilding look like with equity and cultural sensitivity? What tools can be used to collaborate with design professionals and community members to re/build our city. This workshop will engage the audience with hands-on practices and examples of processes to use in the rebuilding process.
12:30 pm – “Speed Talks: The Future of Design”, a round of 10-minute micro talks with leading designers and architects.
Michael Anderson: “Designing for Rapid Response and Human Dignity”
Genelle Brooks Petty (BPC Interiors): “Development In Tandem with Cultural Preservation”
Carmen Suero and Pierre De Angelis (Good Project Company): “Designing for Failure, Friction, and the Unresolved”
Kiana Martinez (UCLA / cityLAB): “Promoting a Community-Driven Future Using Community Engagement & Thick Mapping”
Alvin Huang: “Design Futurism: Form Follows Values”
William Virgil (Sci-Arc): “What Happened to Design?”
Joshua Foster (JAF Solutions): “Impact Strategy: The Foundation of Community Building”
Nicole Comp (Akin Construction): “Built to Embrace”
Jaime Olmos (KFA Architects): “The Next LA: Reframing the Future of Housing”

2:45 pm – Straight Talk About Building Back | Moderated by Frances Anderton
What does resilient rebuilding really look like—from the ground up? We will hear from Altadena homeowner and architect Charles Bryant and landscape architect Gary Lai who will unpack the real constraints and radical opportunities in rebuilding California communities with care, speed, fire-safe and climate-conscious design.
Co-presented by Friends of Residential Treasures Los Angeles (FORT: LA), as part of its Heart of LA/Straight Talk About Building Back series, responding to the 2025 fires.
3:15 pm – The Future of Building: Explore Prefab Housing Innovation
Learn about new technology, processes, and tools that can be used for building single family and multifamily housing in Southern California in a more resilient, expedited, and cost-efficient manner. Join Assemblage Works – Callie Bailey, Principal & Studio Director: “Offsite/Modular Construction & Multifamily Housing” and Bevy House – Bryan Henson, CEO: “Custom Modular Home Construction”
4:00 pm – “Wonder & Awe: Pushing LA’s Design Boundaries”
Los Angeles is a city that inspires wonder. Never a city to sit still, L.A. is a beacon of curiosity, a hub for imagination and a region of contradictions. Even as the city serves as an epicenter of discovery, entertainment and technology, LA continues to face challenges around quality of life, equity and urbanity. Pushing design boundaries across our collective future can help us curb these challenges and bring memorable experiences to life for more and more of this city’s diverse population.
In this session, Barbara Bouza, Executive Director of LIVE, WORK, PLAY at CannonDesign and the former President of Walt Disney Imagineering will reimagine just what it means to be a city that never stops evoking awe.
Q+A with Lance Collins: A closing conversation on leadership, legacy, and designing for the long game.
4:45 pm – Closing Thoughts
Small Lots, Big Impacts: An Initiative to Build a Path to a Better Future
Saturday & Sunday | 11:00 am – 5:00 pm
Adotta Showroom | 8745 Washington Blvd.
Small Lots, Big Impacts is an initiative to build a path to a better future for Los Angeles—one where a new generation of homeowners has the chance to thrive in more resilient neighborhoods. Across two phases, cityLAB UCLA and the City of Los Angeles seek to reignite LA’s legacy of innovative multifamily housing in response to our city’s urgent and overlapping challenges.
Winning submissions from the recent Design Competition will be on display in the Helms Design Center throughout the weekend, illustrating a range of innovative designs that offer pathways to livable, economical, and uniquely Los Angeles homes. More information about the initiative, and the upcoming development opportunities, is available on the Small Lots, Big Impacts project website.

Paper Sculptures by Artist Jeff Morrical
Washington Corridor | 11:00 – 5:00 pm | 8723 Washington Blvd.
Stop by the Helms Design Center on Saturday or Sunday to view the work of Culver City artist Jeff Morrical, incorporating single-sheet paper sculptures shaped by folds and gravity. From many years working in the world of architecture, finding form, structure and pattern in everyday materials has always been a driving force in his work.
While his artwork generally falls into the world of sculpture, the pieces can become canvas, costuming and props for movement and performance, toys for play, screens for projection – abundant possibilities in one of the world’s most ubiquitous and humble materials.
SUNDAY, JUNE 29

Art21 Screening Society: Artists & the Unknown
Helms Design Center | 11:30 am –12:30 pm | 8745 Washington Blvd.
Hosted in partnership with Art21’s Screening Society
Free & Open to the Public
Design is a tool for reimagining futures—but what about the things we can’t explain?
Join us for a special screening from Art21’s acclaimed Screening Society series, featuring five artists who lean into the mystery, chance, and unknown in their creative practices. In celebration of Art21’s newest book, Artists & the Unknown: Art21 Interviews with Artists, this hour-long film block explores the ways artists work with uncertainty to make sense of the world—and to make meaning from it.
Featured Artists:
Linda Goode Bryant – community as creative practice
Sarah Sze – mapping the chaos of information
Rose B. Simpson – generational healing through sculpture
Josephine Halvorson – material, memory, and close observation
Michael Rakowitz – political history and reconstruction through art
Pull up a seat, quiet your mind, and tune into a conversation between intuition, process, and possibility.
“The unknown is not something to fear—it’s something to engage.”
— Artists & the Unknown

Building Intentional Community: A Fireside Chat with Krislam Chin & Diana Davis
Helms Design Center | 1:00 – 1:45 pm | 8745 Washington Boulevard
Join Krislam Chin (Founder and Designer of Hello World Studio) and Diana Davis (Creative Business Coach and founder of Recess for Creatives) at the LA Design Festival for a candid fireside chat on building community with purpose in an ever-changing creative world. With roots in branding, mindfulness, and entrepreneurship, Krislam and Diana will share how they’ve each cultivated culture, sparked impact, and empowered emerging creatives — all with intention and integrity. Expect real talk, actionable insights, and lessons learned from the field.

Open Archives: Art, Access, and the Stories of Los Angeles
Helms Design Center | 2:00 – 2:45 pm | 8745 Washington Boulevard
This engaging panel brings together archivists from the Wende Museum, Huntington Library, and the Museum of Latin American Art to reveal how the public can access and engage with LA’s rich archival treasures. As both an artist and community member, moderator Shagane Barsegian will guide a conversation exploring how these institutions are reimagining their archives as dynamic public resources rather than closed repositories.
Panelists will share initiatives that bridge the gap between institutional collections and community access, discuss how changing urban dynamics are reshaping their missions, and offer practical guidance for artists, teachers, students, and curious citizens on navigating these cultural goldmines. From surprising recent discoveries to upcoming digitization projects, the panel will illuminate pathways for meaningful engagement with our shared cultural heritage and inspire attendees to become active participants in preserving and interpreting LA’s history.

Inploration: Sounding the Future
Helms Design Center | 4:00 – 4:45 PM | 8745 Washington Blvd.
A guided journey through the Inploration LP—where boundary-pushing music becomes a vessel for cosmic reflection and future visioning.
Join Inploration—an initiative at the intersection of art, science, and cosmic wonder—for an immersive evening of sound, vision, and future-thinking. Co-founders Lawrence Azerrad and Richelle Ellis guide us through their newly released LP, Inploration, featuring collaborations with Toro y Moi, Esperanza Spalding, Wilco, Suzanne Ciani, Endless Labyrinth, and Infinite River.
Fresh off its debut at the Venice Biennale Universe Pavilion, the album comes to life in a live convergence of music, movement, and celestial reflection. Designed for boundary-blurring creators and seekers, this event invites you to listen forward—and reimagine the future from the inside out.
The Inploration LP will be available for purchase on-site or online at magnoliarecord.store.
THURSDAY – SUNDAY
Arcana: Books on the Arts: Curated Design Festival Collection
Arcana: Books on the Arts | 11 am – 7 pm daily | 8675 Washington Blvd.
As part of LA Design Festival and the Helms Design District celebration of creativity and culture, Arcana: Books on the Arts invites you to explore a specially curated collection that spans the inspiring worlds of design, architecture, fashion, art, regenerative design, and more.
For one week only, Arcana will feature a hand-picked selection of visually stunning and intellectually rich titles that speak to the heart of creative practice—from the iconic to the avant-garde, the global to the hyperlocal.
Whether you’re a design professional, student, curious collector, or lover of beautiful books, this collection is your chance to discover new perspectives and deepen your connection to the ideas shaping our built, worn, and imagined worlds. Come browse the shelves, spark your next big idea, or take home a future favorite. You never know what you’ll discover when the pages are this good.
Projecting Possibilities: Illuminating Creativity in the Heart of Culver City
Helms Design Center | 8 pm – 2 am daily | 8745 Washington Boulevard
Launched during the pandemic as a beacon of hope and creativity, Projecting Possibilities returns to light up the streets of Culver City—literally. As part of this year’s LA Design Festival, the Helms Design District, in partnership with Culver Arts, invites the community to experience a unique intersection of digital art and public space.
Each month, a new local artist takes over the façade of the Helms Design Center at 8745 Washington Boulevard, transforming its entry doors into a glowing outdoor gallery. Projections run nightly from 8:00 PM to 2:00 AM, offering an accessible and inspiring art encounter under the stars.
For the month of June, we proudly feature Sya Warfield, Culver Arts grant recipient and multidisciplinary artist whose work explores calm, clarity, and emotional connection through mixed media and sensory design. Her projections will be on view from June 1–30, activating the public realm with a powerful expression of mindfulness and insight.

Visualizing Design Futurism: International poster exhibition projection
Helms Design Center | Nightly 8:00 pm – 2:00 am | 8745 Washington Blvd.
In case you missed the poster exhibition on Saturday in the Washington Corridor, you can still view the posters projected nightly on the façade of the Helms Design Center at 8745 Washington Boulevard.
Design Futurism isn’t just a concept—it’s a call to imagine, create, and shape the future through the power of design. In collaboration with Olga Severina of Poster Territory, this dynamic exhibition showcases a diverse international collection of posters from 45+ countries that visually explore the possibilities, challenges, and hopes embedded in the future of design. Each poster is a unique artistic response to the question: How can design guide us toward a more intentional, regenerative, and human-centered future?